Happily ever after M and F
by alidragon
Summary: One shot. The way I would have liked to see the movie end. Starts with Godley finding abberline in the Opium Den at the end of the movie.


**One shot. This is how I would have like to see the movie end. Love Johnny's deep dark movies but far too many do not have a happy ending and I think it would be nice once in a while. Sadly I do not own the characters in From Hell, as much as I love them. This ending came to me one day walking my dogs after watching the movie for the 3 time. Hope you like it. Let me know what you think of it. **

Sergeant Peter Godley walked in the Yang's Opium Den to rouse Inspector Frederick Abberline from his drug induced dream for the hundredth time. They had been requested to investigate another murder in the Whitechapel district. Despite his promotion or perhaps because of it Abberline had refused to leave the Whitechapel beat. It was where he had met her, and where he lost her. Abberline had never been the same since the Ripper murders. True the killing had stopped and Sir Gull had been committed to the same asylum that poor Anne Crook had ended her days in. But none of that seemed to matter, his life was empty and the one thing he wanted he could not have.

It would appear that those in the Freemason had finally given up watching his every step. But Abberline could never be sure they had given up on him. They no longer shadowed his every step. But he feared that one miss step and they would know. Know his secret. And they must never know that Mary and the child lived. And so as much as his heart wanted to go to her, he retreated to Yang's Opium Den to lose himself in the blissful dumbness of the drug. At least there he could see them, if only in his dreams.

Godley walks up to the bed where Abberline is lying, eyes staring unseeing at the ceiling. He knows right way that something is horribly wrong this time. There in the inspectors hand are the two coins for the ferry man, a sad sign that the Abberline had know he would not awake from this dream. Checking for a pulse and finding none, sighs and Godley writes a brief note on a page of his note book, tears it out and hands it to the constable that had accompanied him , "Go give this to Detective Chief Superintendent Arnold and bring him back here."

Looking somewhat confused 'You want the Chief Superintendant to come here?"

"Constable, just do as you're told" barked at him

"Yes sir, sorry sir." He replied and hurried off.

The Sergeant then turned to the other constable and ordered him to go and fetch the police surgeon.

After they leave Godley kneels by the bed and gently places the coins on the inspector's eyes. "Goodnight, sweet prince" Pulling up a chair and he sits and waits for the surgeon and Arnold to arrive.

About an hour later they both arrive more than a little upset at having been summoned to such a place.

"Sergeant you had better have a good reason for this" the Chief Superintendant bellowed. But stopped in his tracks when he sees the inspector lying there unmoving.

"Yes sir, as I said in my note, the inspector is dead." Godley replied with a slight crack in his voice. "I didn't think you would want the press to find out he died here. After all the questions there have been about the Ripper case I thought the discovery of the inspector dying here might just bring it all back to the front pages. Something I don't think any of us wants."

"Yes, yes. Good thinking. We do not need another scandal connect to Abberline." Turning to the Police surgeon, "He is dead?"

"Yes, an overdose. Very straight forward. No question."

"You have a suggestion Sergeant?" Arnold asked

"Well, I was thinking I could take him home and you" Godley said looking at the police surgeon. "could say it was influenza, and that he died at home. End of story, there have many so many die in this influenza outbreak. And he does tend to be in areas where there have been deaths, what with his tendency to stay in the Whitechapel area."

"Good plan Sergeant." Looking at the surgeon Arnold told him "You Godley see to getting the body back to his home. You make out the death certificate." Arnold ordered the police surgeon. "And I will see that a full police funeral is set up for the inspector. We will send him off right Sergeant."

"Yes sir" They both replied

The inspectors body was moved to his home by Godley and Yang. The police surgeon made out the death certificate to read influenza as cause of death, The Chief Superintendant true to his word arranged a full Police funeral for the inspector. The service was attended by many high ranking members of the society who viewed the attendance of many of the residence of Whitechapel as unseemly. But Abberline had for the most part been seen as a men who sought justice for even the lowest member of society and not just for those with coin in their pocket. And many turned out to honour his memory. Of course the press were there, and there was a full column writes up on his career, including a rather detailed account of the Ripper case, but as he was just one of many who died of influenza that year the story died in a day or two. And so Inspector Frederick Abberline was laid to rest.

In a meeting place under the streets of London a group of men of noble birth meet to take apart in the weekly ceremonies of the Freemason the belonged to. High in the balcony overlooking the ceremony there noble men discuss the resent funeral of Inspector Frederick Abberline,

"Killed himself with Opium you say"

"We knew it was only a matter of time. He was spending more and more of his time in that vial place."

"Your sure if was him. That he was really dead"

"I saw his body myself. Do you doubt me? I know a dead man when I see one." Arnold said with a trace of annoyance.

"No. No. It's just such a relief for him to go to his grave with the secret" the other apologized. "We watch him for so long. Hard to believe it is over."

"Well it is. Inspector Frederick Abberline is dead and buried, as is the prince. And Sir Gull has no memory of the events. At last we can rest easy and forget the whole Ripper thing."

"About time. We have far more important matter to deal with. Shall we never speak of this unpleasant subject again? It is over, finally. They are finally all dead. Let them all rest in peace now, they cannot hurt us or the monarchy"

All were in agreement and continued down the stairs to join the ceremony which had already started.

Of course nothing is ever as it seems in the back streets of London. Inspector Abberline had been a good customer of Yang's. And he had made sure that Yang was not bother by the local constables, allowing the Opium Den to run without the clients needing to worry about being bothered by the press or the police. So it had saddened Yang to see the life go out of the young inspector after the Ripper case had ended. It bothered him as well those who had dogged Abberline's every move in the months that followed. It was not right; Abberline was a good man, a fair man. And so Yang had approached the inspector with a plan.

At first the inspector did not believe Yang. It just didn't seem possible. But Yang introduced Abberline to his old friend a doctor from the orient who explain that there were was to slow down a person's heart with the aid of certain herbs and drugs to a point where a pulse could not be felt. The person would appear to all that they were dead. Then another drug could be administered which would revive them no worse for the adventure. That he began to believe it might just be the solution to his problem.

There were always deaths in the den, and many who died had long lost contact with family and friends as the dragon took hold of their lives. So it wouldn't be hard to find a body for the casket. The resent outbreak of influenza gave a good cover story for the press. And the fear from past out breaks would assure that even the mortician would not want to handle the body. A quick burial without a long wake would not seem strange.

Early in the morning on the day of his death a wagon entered the alley behind the inspectors home and a very large bag of something was carried in. The inspector went to work as usual, after a good meal with his sergeant at a local inn he made his way to Yang's. In the back room Yang's doctor friend administer the herbs and drug. Abberline then made his way to his favourite cot, took a couple of puffs on the pipe and passed into blissful ignorance.

Hours later he awoke with a start in his own home. Looking around he asks "So did they buy it?"

"Hook line and sinker. Arnold was glad to see the last of you, he didn't question it, he seemed just relieved that you Abberline problem was final over and done with. Besides he and the surgeon just wanted to be out of Yang's den that they did spend that much time questioning the fact that you were dead." Godley replied.

The mortician had already been and a casket was sitting in the living room. Only instead of Abberline's body inside it held the body of the poor soul who had died at Yang's the night before. Instead of a paupers grave he would have a place of honour in the Police cemetery. Abberline took very little from the house; he had been butting aside cash for some time and had a stash which should see him through the coming months. Changing into the clothes of a labour he said a heartfelt goodbye to his friend and sergeant before he slipped out of the back door of the house which was no longer his home and disappeared into the over populated streets of London.

It was surprising how easily it was for Inspector Frederick Abberline to turn into Fred Cameron a deck hand on a schooner heading to the colonies. No one questioned him; he worked hard, and was willing to do any job on the ship. His lack of experience was overlooked due to his willingness to do whatever he was asked, no matter how hard or unpleasant. But before they were half way across the Atlantic Cameron/Abberline had become not only a real member of the crew but a well liked one. From the next year he worked up and down the eastern seaboard of the Canada and the United States on series of schooner. He never however gave up looking over his shoulder. Every time they made port he half expected someone from the Freemason waiting there to confront him.

Finally after a year he final believed at no one was watching him. So changing his name one last time, Fred Simpson boarded a tramp steamer headed to Ireland. An experienced crewman this time, he worked hard during the crossing. The Captain was sorry to see his newest seaman leave the ship when they made port in Cork. Simpson/Abberline spent another couple of months working his way across Ireland as a day labourer. When he was sure no one was following him, he made his way to a small village which had been his destination from the day he left London.

Mary Kelly goes to the door of her tiny cottage to call her daughter for lunch. She feels a shiver of fear run down her spine as she sees a stranger climbing the path towards the cottage. Had they been found out? Had the evil in London final followed them here?

"Annie, come into the house." Mary called out to her daughter.

"Yes mother" the young girl answered, running past her mother into the cottage.

Mary stood her ground. After all it was only one man. Perhaps she was being paranoid. Yet there was something about the man walking towards her that seemed familiar. Slowly she walked to the gate to meet the man.

"Hello Mary, it's been far too long" Fred Simpson/ Abberline said with just a touch of a smile in his voice.

Her hand went to her chest, she knew that voice but it couldn't be. The man that belonged to that voice was dead. She had read in the paper that he had died of influenza. It had been just a short article in the Dublin paper about the man who had investigated the Ripper case. She had cried long and hard for him. He couldn't be the sunburned bearded man standing before her. Could he?

"You're dead, you can't be here. I saw it in the paper"

"Can't believe everything you read in the press, you know" he told her smiling

"Abberline"

"No its Simpson now. Abberline and that life in London is over and done with. I am just a simple sailor looking for his girl." He told her. "That is if she will still have me"

"Have you?" Mary threw herself into his arms. "Oh I will have you Mr. Ab.. Mr Simpson. I'll have you." And kissed him.

"One question? What took you so long?"

"Had to make sure they believed Abberline was dead, and I wasn't followed. You know I would never put either of you in danger. I had to be sure."

Together they walked in the cottage.

Six months latter Mary Kelly and Frederick Simpson were married in a simple service at the local church. Three months after that the Simpsons and their daughter Annie immigrated to Boston, where Mr. Simpson found a job as a constable with the Boston Police department. Two years later he was promoted to Inspector due his involvement in solving several complicated murders on the Boston waterfront.

The Simpson family would grow and prosper over the years with the births of sons Peter and William. Years later both boys would join the family business as Mary called liked to call the department. And Annie would go on to marry one of the young constables who worked with her father. Keeping it all in the family Fred was said to have said at his daughter wedding. Both Mary and Fred had long stopped looking over their shoulders. No one, not even Annie knew that "His Princess" was anything more than a loving father's nick name. That is accept for Mary.

One day 20 years later Inspector Godley opened a letter from Boston to find a photograph of a loving family. There was no return address, no letter, just the photograph. On the back it simply said. "Happily ever after. M and F" Smiling to himself he stared at it for a long time before placing the photograph in the fire and watching it slowly burn.


End file.
